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ATLANTA — JLL’s Capital Markets group has arranged a $421.8 million refinancing for Piedmont Center in Atlanta. The 2.2 million square foot, 14-building, Class A office complex is located on Piedmont Road NE in Atlanta’s Buckhead submarket. Proceeds from the loan were used to purchase four additional office buildings within the complex and to refinance the debt of Ardent’s existing holdings within Piedmont Center. The tenant roster includes technology, healthcare and professional services companies. The area is served by a MARTA Station that provides transportation throughout the city of Atlanta, as well as several thoroughfares such as Georgia 400 and Peachtree, Roswell and Lenox roads. The office space is located four miles north of Midtown, which offers amenities from museums to shopping to recreation. JLL’s Capital Markets team represented the borrower, The Ardent Cos., in the transaction to secure the floating-rate loan from a bank lender. Matt Casey and Ed Coco led the JLL Capital Markets team, while JLL’s brokerage team of David Horne and Jeff Taylor won the assignment to lease buildings five through eight. “Through its consolidation of ownership within Piedmont Center, Ardent has created a huge opportunity to reinvent the office campus into a more dynamic workplace …

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NEW YORK CITY AND LAS VEGAS — VICI Properties Inc. (NYSE: VICI), MGM Growth Properties LLC (NYSE: MGP) and MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) have entered into a definitive agreement under which VICI will acquire MGP for a total consideration of $17.2 billion, including the assumption of approximately $5.7 billion of debt. MGM Resorts is the controlling shareholder of MGP. Upon completion of the merger, VICI will have an estimated enterprise value of $45 billion representing 43 properties in 15 states. The deal will add 15 Class A entertainment resort properties across the country to VICI’s portfolio, comprising 33,000 hotel rooms; 3.6 million square feet of meeting and convention space; and hundreds of food, beverage and entertainment venues. The deal represents an estimated 30 to 40 percent discount to replacement cost. The move will solidify VICI as the largest experiential net-lease REIT, while also advancing its goals of portfolio enhancement and diversification, according to the company. Following the transaction, approximately 55 percent of VICI’s rent base will be generated by market-leading regional properties, while the remaining 45 percent will come from properties on the Las Vegas Strip. Simultaneous with the closing of the transaction, VICI will enter into an amended …

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SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Global private investor KKR has purchased HQ @ First, an office campus in Silicon Valley totaling 603,666 square feet. Mori Trust Co. Ltd., a real estate development firm based in Japan, sold the campus to KKR for $535 million, according to several media outlets. The LEED Gold-certified property was fully leased at the time of sale to data memory and storage manufacturer Micron Technologies and IT securities firm Zscaler. The campus is located at 110, 120, 130 Holger Way in San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley’s “Golden Triangle,” which is home to globally renowned tech firms such as Cisco Systems, Adobe, PayPal and eBay. Steven Golubchik, Edmund Najera, Jonathan Schaefler and Darren Hollak of Newmark brokered the transaction. KKR purchased HQ @ First via its KKR Real Estate Select Trust fund and selected San Francisco-based Drawbridge Realty to manage the office campus. “HQ @ First is a marquee property with great amenities, including onsite lab facilities, and access to Silicon Valley’s immense pool of talent,” says Justin Pattner, partner and head of real estate equity in the Americas at KKR. “We believe well-located trophy assets that can deliver a dynamic work environment for innovative …

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Skyglass-Tower-Seattle

SEATTLE — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged a $113 million construction loan for Skyglass Tower, a 29-story multifamily project located at 222 Dexter Ave. N. in Seattle’s South Lake Union submarket. The total project cost is $196 million, according to the borrower and developer, Gemdale USA Corp. The location puts the building within close proximity of several of Seattle’s largest employers, including tech giants Amazon, Google and Facebook. South Lake Union is also located in the heart of the city’s life sciences hub, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Skyglass Tower will consist of 338 apartments in various floor plans, 2,260 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 128 underground parking spaces. The building will also feature an expansive amenity package and unobstructed water views. Hewitt Architects is designing the project, with completion slated for October 2023. Insurance giant AIG provided the loan to Gemdale, a national development firm based in the Los Angeles area. Dave Karson, Chris Moyer and Keith Padien of Cushman & Wakefield arranged the debt. “Seattle is benefiting greatly from regional job creation, and South Lake Union is still a prime location for new developments,” says Karson. “Strong developers like Gemdale are getting great attention from debt …

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ATLANTA — Cousins Properties (NYSE: CUZ) has acquired 725 Ponce, a 372,000-square-foot office property in Midtown Atlanta, for $300.2 million. The seller, New City Properties, completed development of the 12-story asset in late 2019. Located on the Atlanta BeltLine and directly across from popular mixed-use development Ponce City Market, 725 Ponce is fully leased to tenants such as BlackRock, McKinsey & Co. and Chick-fil-A. The $140 million development includes an adjacent 60,000-square-foot Kroger grocery store, which replaced a former Kroger that was built in 1986. As part of the transaction, Cousins also acquired a 50 percent ownership interest in an adjacent land site for an additional $4 million that can accommodate 150,000 to 200,000 square feet of development. Atlanta-based Cousins is a self-managed REIT that primarily invests in Class A office buildings within Sun Belt markets. The company’s stock price opened at $40.04 per share Friday, July 30, up from $30.49 per share one year ago. Cousins recently sold One South at the Plaza, a 40-story office tower in Uptown Charlotte, for $271.5 million. Additionally, Cousins and New City recently unveiled plans to develop a mixed-use project known as Neuhoff in the Germantown submarket of Nashville. Plans call for 448,000 …

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Safeco-Plaza

SEATTLE — Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) has entered into an agreement to acquire Safeco Plaza, a 50-story, Class A office tower located at 1001 Fourth Ave. in Seattle’s Central Business District, for $465 million. The seller in the transaction was undisclosed. The REIT is acquiring the 800,000-square-foot property through a joint venture with one of the participants in its recently announced co-investment program with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and GIC. Boston Properties will own a 51 percent interest in the building. Safeco Plaza was developed in 1969 by the Howard S. Wright Construction Co. and features a two-story lobby, five-level subterranean parking garage, a large outdoor plaza and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.  The LEED Platinum-certified property offers views of the Seattle skyline, Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains and is located adjacent to stops for Seattle’s Link light rail and Metro bus lines.  Safeco Plaza was 90 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Safeco Insurance, Bank of America, Corr Cronin LLP, Fox Rothschild, Helsell Fetterman and Interior Architects. Hines has managed the asset since 2016. Boston Properties is one of the largest publicly traded developers, owners and managers of Class A …

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Icon Echo Tower

SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Urban Catalyst has revealed plans to build the Icon/Echo mixed-use project, which will include office, residential and retail components in downtown San Jose. The development will cost around $600 million to build, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The construction timeline for the project has not been disclosed. The Icon/Echo towers will feature 300 apartment units and 420,000 square feet of Class A office space. The office tower portion of the project will be 282 feet tall, while the apartment complex will be 267 feet tall. The apartment units will sit above 8,500 square feet of ground-floor retail. The project’s two towers will include over 50,000 square feet of outdoor amenities, including rooftop gardens, as well as interior common areas. Additionally, the towers will have four levels of parking that will hold up to 1,134 cars. Located at 147 E Santa Clara St., Icon/Echo encompasses about two acres of land and is located close to City Hall and a future Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station. The Icon/Echo towers will be located half a mile from the San Jose Museum of Art and about 0.4 miles from San Jose State University. One of the sites …

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PHILADELPHIA AND IRVINE, CALIF. — Independence Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: IRT), a publicly traded apartment REIT based in Philadelphia, has agreed to acquire Irvine-based Steadfast Apartment REIT Inc. On a pro-forma basis, the combined company is expected to have a total enterprise value of approximately $7 billion and be equally owned by shareholders of both firms. Post-merger, the company will operate under the Independence Realty Trust banner and trade under the same stock symbol. The portfolio will total 131 apartment communities comprising approximately 38,000 units across 16 states. The combined company’s 10 largest markets by unit count would be Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Oklahoma City, Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Raleigh-Durham, Houston and Memphis. According to an investor presentation, the portfolio averages $1,231 in effective rent per month and is 96.2 percent occupied. The combined company would rank at No. 26 on the National Multifamily Housing Council’s (NMHC) 2021 ranking of the top 50 apartment owners. Neither Independence Realty Trust nor Steadfast Apartment REIT is on the NMHC Top 50 Owners ranking for 2021. Both companies expect the transaction to close during the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of both companies’ stockholders. The boards of directors …

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Terminal-Warehouse-Manhattan

NEW YORK CITY — A joint venture between L&L Holding Co. and Columbia Property Trust (NYSE: CXP) has received a $1.2 billion construction loan for the redevelopment of the historic Terminal Warehouse building in Manhattan’s West Chelsea neighborhood. The property was originally built in 1891 as the first major New York City facility with direct access to the river, streets and rail lines. A set of twin rail tracks runs through the center of the facility and originally offered a direct connection from the Hudson River’s docks to the freight lines operating at street level along 11th Avenue. Today, Terminal Warehouse consists of 1.2 million square feet of office, retail and self-storage space. The partnership plans to develop the property’s 550,000 square feet of self-storage space into modern, Class A office property and reimagine the ground-floor retail common areas. COOKFOX Architects is leading the design of the redevelopment. In addition, as part of the project plan approved by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the floor area will be removed to make room for a new courtyard, a series of double-height interior spaces throughout the western portion of the building and six new office levels with floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking …

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Parc Roundtree Ranch

PEORIA, ARIZ. — Institutional Property Advisors has arranged the sale of Parc Roundtree Ranch, a 275-unit apartment property in Peoria, approximately 13 miles north of Phoenix. The property sold for $88.8 million, or $322,909 per unit. Gebing and Cliff David of IPA represented the seller, Evergreen Devco Inc., and procured the buyer, Bridge Investment Group. Completed in 2021, Parc Roundtree Ranch is located northeast of the Westgate Entertainment District, a mixed-use development in Glendale with more than 20 restaurants, retailers and entertainment venues including Yard House, Saddle Ranch, Buffalo Wild Wings and a 20-screen AMC movie theater. The Westgate district is anchored by Gila River Arena, which is the home to the National Hockey League’s Arizona Coyotes. Additionally, the apartment property is located next to Roundtree Park, a public community park with grills, a picnic area, a playground and a soccer field. The apartment community is close to the Loop 101 freeway and U.S. 60, and has access to employment hot spots such as Southwest Valley, Midtown and downtown Phoenix. Additionally, there are approximately 7,300 businesses within a 10-mile radius of the property. “The West Valley’s combination of durable jobs and growth in the distribution and industrial sectors has provided …

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